Captains Circle Tiers

[2 cruises a year]

19 hours ago, SCX22 said:

The new tier should be called "Geriatric"

I resemble that remark!

[cruisingrob21]

Disney announced that to keep your status you will have to cruise every 5 years.  If that catches the wind I could see other cruise lines following suite, if only for upper tiers.  Alternatively, Princess continues to water down benefits, so that's another way for them to cut costs I suppose. 

[snoozecrooze]

19 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Disney announced that to keep your status you will have to cruise every 5 years.  If that catches the wind I could see other cruise lines following suite, if only for upper tiers.  Alternatively, Princess continues to water down benefits, so that's another way for them to cut costs I suppose. 

MSC's been doing it for a while now (3 years is their cut-off). Not a very evidently popular concept.

[Ombud]

On 12/27/2023 at 12:11 PM, d9704011 said:

As a new perk, maybe Elite Plus can get their laundry back within 48 hours.

I get mine back in an hour. Set to wash, back to room for coffee, 30 minutes later put in dryer, 35 minutes later it's done. In cold water. On their tokens. 

[HleeCruiser]

Not likely Princess will add another loyalty level.  They ;have gutted the Elite level and from their actions no longer value long time clients.   

[Iamcruzin]

15 minutes ago, HleeCruiser said:

Not likely Princess will add another loyalty level.  They ;have gutted the Elite level and from their actions no longer value long time clients.   

These programs are marketing ploys designed only to give the illusion that they valued past passengers. The truth is that first time cruisers spend more on board than past passengers who are only looking for free stuff. They need to concern themselves with attracting new passengers as the old passengers fade away. These loyalty programs are not going to do it. 

[koreakruiser]

On 12/27/2023 at 10:37 AM, SCX22 said:

The new tier should be called "Geriatric"

Or maybe they could call it..... "Medallion"

[SCX22]

2 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

Or maybe they could call it..... "Medallion"

 

Medallion doesn't have the same ring as "Geriatric."

 

....The Platinum, Elite, and Geriatric Lounge.

 

...Suite, Elite, and Geriatric guests have access to priority water shuttle service.

[leck57]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

 

Medallion doesn't have the same ring as "Geriatric."

 

...Suite, Elite, and Geriatric guests have access to priority water shuttle service.

 

Only if you can get in to the water shuttle without assistance. Based on the ever growing parking lot of scooters and walkers outside the Dining Rooms this may not be a needed benefit. I think Charging stations should be placed outside the Dining Rooms as a service but only to be used by the new Elite Plus tier, if created.

[voljeep]

5 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

Or maybe they could call it..... "Medallion"

already used as a level before by Princess ...

[SargassoPirate]

5 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

Or maybe they could call it..... "Medallion"

Royal Caribbean rolled out a new level above Diamond Plus several year ago and dubbed it "Pinnacle".  I've heard several folks call it "pinochle" .

[Jadn13]

Travel Hacking is huge with large followings and many younger people chasing Elite status with airlines and hotels.

The benefits from these programs are a big time/expense saver which keeps people chasing it.

Some of the benefits on Princess are worthwhile but not worth chasing it. 

 

[MissP22]

On 12/27/2023 at 3:23 PM, pamps2801 said:

First it would give cruisers something else to reach for, and as for the benefit for Princess, more people would cruise more often to reach the new tier. Of course that would all depend on the perks offered in the new tier.

Why bother,  they have sufficient customers right now not to give back anything to promote new business.

[Crystaltipps67]

On 12/28/2023 at 6:33 AM, Iamcruzin said:

How would this benefit Princess? They already have you where they want you. If anything they need to add a level in between Platinum and Elite. 

I don't understand what the point of Ruby is. Certainly for us in the UK it's not an incentive as I don't believe we gain a single benefit after our 3rd cruise when we reach that status. So maybe just adding a little something as a benefit for Ruby that we can all benefit from would be nice.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

I don't understand what the point of Ruby is. Certainly for us in the UK it's not an incentive as I don't believe we gain a single benefit after our 3rd cruise when we reach that status. So maybe just adding a little something as a benefit for Ruby that we can all benefit from would be nice.

The Ruby perk for us was getting the Platinum insurance coverage at the price of the Standard insurance.

 

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The Ruby perk for us was getting the Platinum insurance coverage at the price of the Standard insurance.

 

when "did" the 'free' internet minutes kick in?

[Crystaltipps67]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The Ruby perk for us was getting the Platinum insurance coverage at the price of the Standard insurance.

 

That doesn't work for us in the UK - it's only available to US/Canada/Mexico permanent residents booked in the US. And US 'insurance' is very different to UK 'insurance' - we don't pay a % of the cruise, and we pay significantly less as it's true insurance, covering us for risk rather than being able to cancel for any reason (which would never feature in UK insurance policies). There are exactly no benefits available to UK residents in the Ruby tier.

[triple7tahoe]

14 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Disney announced that to keep your status you will have to cruise every 5 years.  If that catches the wind I could see other cruise lines following suite, if only for upper tiers.  Alternatively, Princess continues to water down benefits, so that's another way for them to cut costs I suppose. 

P&O (UK) also has a "must sail in X years" to maintain status-We have gone up and down may times I feel like I am constantly on a lift 🙂

 

[cruzsnooze]

Princess definitely needs a new higher tier. They could give perks that cost little or nothing. I resent those paying alcohol get reserved seating in the theatre while those with 50+ cruises don't. I now prefer RCL's perks with Diamond plus and higher get reserved seats for the shows and complimentary drinks in the early evening and access to the concierge. Princess needs to up their game for their most loyal customers. 

[john watson]

11 minutes ago, triple7tahoe said:

P&O (UK) also has a "must sail in X years" to maintain status-We have gone up and down may times I feel like I am constantly on a lift 🙂

 

 

On P&O (UK) the top two tiers have a set number of nights for each of the two tiers relating to the last three years.  On top of this you need to have an overall number of nights sailed.  The latter relates to all tiers but the cut off date is quite a while back.

 

Regards John

[suzyed]

What I would like to see is the Loyalty level can be shared throughout the Carnival Corporation ships like RCI and Celebrity does.  My first cruise on Celebrity, I was Elite because I am Diamond on RCI.
We would like to try Holland but we would have no status on them even though we are Elite on Princess. 
MSC status matches from many other cruise lines.

[suzyed]

14 hours ago, HleeCruiser said:

Not likely Princess will add another loyalty level.  They ;have gutted the Elite level and from their actions no longer value long time clients.   

True.  I can't tell you how many of my friends think that since we are Elite we get all kinds of perks like free cabin upgrades, OBC, free dinners...etc.  It's almost embarrassing tell them that is not the case.

Edited December 29, 2023 by suzyed

[SargassoPirate]

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

Princess definitely needs a new higher tier. They could give perks that cost little or nothing. I resent those paying alcohol get reserved seating in the theatre while those with 50+ cruises don't. I now prefer RCL's perks with Diamond plus and higher get reserved seats for the shows and complimentary drinks in the early evening and access to the concierge. Princess needs to up their game for their most loyal customers. 

I agree that the perks with Royal Caribbean are better so far as alcohol consumption, but they also have more feral children than we encounter on Princess and Princess has guest laundromats.

 

Princess wins 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

when "did" the 'free' internet minutes kick in?

Apparently, Princess started offering free internet minutes to Platinum and Elite guests in 2012 while ending the policy of giving suite guests unlimited internet.

 

With limited bandwidth at sea in an era in which people are increasingly online with more devices --- handhelds, tablets and laptops -- Princess has ended its policy of offering unlimited Internet for its suite passengers.

 

The policy ended last month, although passengers with suites booked before July 15 will still be entitled to the unlimited bandwidth.

 

Princess will continue to provide its suite passengers with other amenities including a special breakfast for suite passengers at Sabatini's, the line's Italian restaurant; a dedicated priority line for suite passengers at the Passenger Services desk; and fee-free dining at a specialty restaurant on the day of embarkation, among other services.

 

In addition, Platinum and Elite Captain's Circle members qualify for a complimentary Internet use package: 150 minutes for cruises seven days and under, 250 minutes for cruises of eight to 20 days and 500 minutes for cruises 21 days or longer.

 

Princess ends unlimited Internet for suite passengers: Travel Weekly

 

OTOH as you probably well know, Princess stopped providing free internet minutes to Platinum and Elite guests when cruising started back up in 2021. Not sure when they ever offered them to guests that had only reached Ruby status.  

 

 

[coo359a2]

Back in 2004 on our first Princess cruise before I knew what Captain Circle levels were, some cruisers had unlimited free internet minutes.  You could see kids playing games and others reading different newspapers on line  and some even were sharing their internet time.  I paid 50 cents a minute to use the internet.  I remember telling my kids that they had to interpret what I said in my emails  as I used no punctuation, capitalization or spell check --  just one long sentence.